The city of Salem announced Monday that the public is invited to celebrate the inauguration of Mayor Kimberley Driscoll and the Salem City Council with an “open house” at the city’s newest mixed-use development, 135 Lafayette Street.
The event will take place on Sunday, Jan. 26, from 12 to 2 p.m. and is free of charge.

“I greatly look forward to welcoming my fellow Salem residents to this open house,” Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll said in a release. “The start of a new year and a new term affords us an opportunity to showcase a signature project that is helping to define our City. 135 Lafayette Street will provide fifty-one units of workforce housing, beautiful retail space, and a community room right at the doorstep of the Point neighborhood. This development is just one piece of a larger initiative to catalyze positive change for the Point, bringing new jobs, housing, economic opportunity, and open space to one of our most vibrant and densely populated neighborhoods.”

The “open house” concept was first used by Mayor Driscoll in 2006, following her first election to the Mayor’s office. Rather than hold a traditional inaugural party or ball, an open house was held at the then newly finished Derby Lofts building.

Derby Lofts today holds 54 market-rate condominiums.

At the street level some of Salem’s most popular retail and dining establishments lease storefronts, including R.A. DeFillipo Antiques, Engine House Pizza, Rouge Cosmetics, Two Girls Shop, and A&J Artisan Bakers.

More than 1,000 people entered yesterday’s lottery for the 51 affordable housing units at 135 Lafayette, the housing development under construction at the former St. Joseph Church site.

Applicants packed the room during the more than four hours it took to pull all 1,031 lottery numbers, one by one, yesterday afternoon, said Lisa Alberghini, president of the Planning Office for Urban Affairs, a developer affiliated with the Archdiocese of Boston.

“That speaks to how anxious people are and what a great need (for affordable housing) there is,” Alberghini said. “… It provides lots of evidence that people think of the historic Point neighborhood in Salem as a neighborhood of choice. People want to live in and around that neighborhood. We heard that a lot from people today.”

The affordable housing complex is slated to be finished and occupied by January 2014. Applications to live in the building’s 51 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments were due earlier this month.

Salem residents and city employees will be given preference for 70 percent of the units, Alberghini said.

The 63-year-old St. Joseph Church building was demolished last winter. It had sat vacant for nine years, after the parish was closed by the archdiocese. Construction of the four-story building began soon after the church was demolished.

Applications are now being accepted from people who would like to live at 135 Lafayette, the housing development under construction at the former St. Joseph Church site.

The affordable housing complex is slated to be finished and occupied by January 2014. Applications to live in the building’s 51 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments are due by Sept. 19, and a lottery will be held to select tenants on Sept. 26.

“Things are on track. We’re making very good progress,” said Lisa Alberghini, president of the Planning Office for Urban Affairs, a developer affiliated with the Archdiocese of Boston. “We’re expecting construction to be completed around the end of the year.”

The 63-year-old St. Joseph Church building was demolished this winter. It had sat vacant for nine years, after the parish was closed by the archdiocese. Construction of the four-story building began soon after the church was demolished.